The Fair Work Commission has ruled the minimum wage should increase by 5.2 per cent.
It equates to an extra $40 per week.
The decision affects more than two million workers across the country, and takes the hourly rate to $21.38.
President Iain Ross said the Fair Work Commission made the decision because of soaring inflation, and the severe impact that has on some of Australia’s lowest paid workers.
The ACTU had been calling for an increase of 5.5 per cent, while employer groups had been calling for increases of between 2.5 and 3 per cent.
The Fair Work Commission’s 5.2 per cent rise to the minimum wage went beyond the calls from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
During the election campaign, Albanese had called for a 5.1 per cent rise to the minimum wage.
But the Coalition criticised the then-opposition leader.
Then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison said such a wage rise would send interest rates spiralling.
(ABC/9News)
